Europe, 1953
On May the 1st 1948, after 8 years of preparation, the Soviet People's Kommissar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov informed his German homolog that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics rescinded all trade agreements with the German Reich, and sent an ultimatum requiring all Axis members to demilitarize their frontiers with the Union or face military retaliation. Soviet leader Iosif Stalin had already agreed with the United Kingdom and the United States to enter the war in return for substantial economic and material support. As soon as Reichskanzer und Fhürer Adolf Hitler learned of the ultimatum he ordered the mobilization of the Wehrmacht towards the Soviet Union without issuing a declaration of war.
The Soviets fought the Axis over three fronts: in the Caucasus against German-Turkish forces, in the Balkans against Romano-Bulgarian forces and in the Polish (Western in the Soviet historiography, Eastern in the German one) front against the bulk of the Wehrmacht. Early successes against Romania and Bulgaria led to coups to abandon the war, and by July '48 the Soviets were entering former Yugoslavian and Greek soils, with Istanbul finally in the hands of Russia and thus cutting the supply route of the Asiatic Axis forces. The Turkish regime eventually succumbed to Anglo-Soviet advances fro the West, East and South on September '48. On the Balkans, Soviet forces made tough advances through Yugoslavia ejecting Italians and Germans by December '48, while Italian Greece fell to Anglo-American landings on the South and Bulgaro-Soviet invasion from the North.
On the Polish front, casualties skyrocketed on both sides while neither gained the upper hand. Through use of its superior manpower reserves, the Soviet Union could slowly force the advance of the front, but by the beginning of 1949 the fight hadn't reached Germany proper yet. Both sides respected Hungarian neutrality because attacking it would have been a waste of resources that would had only widened the frontline. On the South, Anglo-Americans defeated the last Axis African forces in late '48 and initiated the invasion of Italy, while Soviet forces attempted to enter Germany through Austria without success. The fall of Sicily led to the Italian government to seek an armistice with the Allies prompting Germany to occupy the northern half of the country. Anglo-American forces teamed up with the remnants of the Regio Esercito and captured Central Italy, and the Soviet Balkan forces stormed the Po Valley fom the East.
On the second half of 1949, Soviet fores managed to capture Berlin, push the Wehrmacht west of the Elbe and invade Bohemia. The death of Hitler during the Battle of Berlin led to disarray on the German military, sieged from all sides. Anglo-American forces landed on Normandy in August '49 and forced a German general retreat from France, leaving most of the country to the PCF-dominated Resistance. On December 10th 1949, the last German generals surrendered and WW2 was considered to be ended, but many issues remained unresolved and the Western Allies were increasingly uncomfortable with their former ally. No formal plans had been devised, but Americans expected Germany to be jointly occupied by the three powers. However, the Red Army had reached the Rhine, and Stalin insisted on managing the occupation by themselves.
The first tensions rose as a result of the situation in France. Western Allies had supported the Free French movement led by Charles de Gaulle from London, and after the North African Campaign from Algiers, but most of metropolitan France was dominated by Resistance forces. When Charles de Gaulle announced his intention to move to Paris to head a provisional government to design a new constitution for the republic, the PCF threatened to initiate a general strike if they were not included. The Soviet government supported the French communists' position, and de Gaulle and the Western Allies accepted to prevent a civil war. The provisional government included de Gaulle's newly created National Republican Party, the PCF and the SFIO, but disagreements over the nature of the constitution ensued, with de Gaulle favoring a presidential form of government. After the general election of 1950 gave the PCF 43% of the vote and the SFIO 19%, de Gaulle resigned and those parties formed a coalition government led by the PCF that inflamed the fears of the Western Allies. From the south of France and supported by the new government, Spanish republican exiles are linking to the communist maquis that continue fighting the dictatorship of Franco and the risk of reigniting the civil war is making Anglo-Americans reconsider their stance against Spain.
To avoid that situation in Italy, Americans unilateraly restored the Kingdom of Italy and invited Umberto II to Rome, planing to use the remnants of the old regime to curb the rising communists. The British collaborated and merged thir occupation zone to the Kingdom and began collaborating with ex-fascists and mafiosi to persecute red partisans. The Soviets refused to merge their zone into a monarchical capitalist Italy, insisting on creating a republican neutral Italy that would be thoroughly de-fascistised confident on the strength of the Italian communists to drift the country to the Soviet orbit. Deprived of that chance, Soviet occupation authorities began transferring administrative responsibility to Italian communist leaders in mid-1950, and the Italian Democratic Republic began to function as a state on 7 January 1951 as a rival enttity to the Kingdom of Italy to its south. Similar events happened in Greece, where a Western-backed restored Kingdom controlled the south and the islands while a Soviet-propped Socialist Republic dominated the north.
In the Balkans, the Soviet forces restored Yugoslavia, Albania and Czechoslovakia and installed loyal ommunist governments, while Bulgaria was forced to relinquish territories gained during the war. Hungary remained an oddity, surrounded by Soviet-occupied socialist countries, and was forced to cede Transcarpathia to the Ukranian SSR and territories conquered from Yugoslavia through the threat of economic blockade, but was allowed to retain North Transylvania and Southern Slovakia and was awarded Sopron from Germany, having become a puppet of the Soviet Union in all but name and being a matter of time that Hungarian communists accede to power. In Anatolia, negotiations to create a neutral Turkish republic have stalled as the Soviets unilaterally annexed the straits zone to the Russian SSR and land claimed by the Georgian and Armenian SSRs in the east.
In Germany, Soviet occupational forces have unleashed a brutal campaign to de-nazify the population and implant Soviet communism. The Reich has been abolished and substituted by a Räterepublik, with forced collectivization of all land and industry. Asutria has been separated into its own Räterepublik and its boder revised in favor of Hungary and Yugoslavia. Germany has lost every bit of land gained during the war and more, ceding East prussia and Upper Silesia. Soviet military occupies officially only the Rhineland to extract reparations and manage the nationalization, but in fact the whole country is under their boot. Native communists are being put in power positions while rightist sympathisers are persecuted and reeducated and ex-nazis ad militarymen are judged and executed. As Soviets discover and expose the extent of the Nazi extermination program carried over nearly 10 years, the world turns a blind eye to the German situation. Not even the West dares to support anticommunist guerrillas in the Alps.
The Soviets fought the Axis over three fronts: in the Caucasus against German-Turkish forces, in the Balkans against Romano-Bulgarian forces and in the Polish (Western in the Soviet historiography, Eastern in the German one) front against the bulk of the Wehrmacht. Early successes against Romania and Bulgaria led to coups to abandon the war, and by July '48 the Soviets were entering former Yugoslavian and Greek soils, with Istanbul finally in the hands of Russia and thus cutting the supply route of the Asiatic Axis forces. The Turkish regime eventually succumbed to Anglo-Soviet advances fro the West, East and South on September '48. On the Balkans, Soviet forces made tough advances through Yugoslavia ejecting Italians and Germans by December '48, while Italian Greece fell to Anglo-American landings on the South and Bulgaro-Soviet invasion from the North.
On the Polish front, casualties skyrocketed on both sides while neither gained the upper hand. Through use of its superior manpower reserves, the Soviet Union could slowly force the advance of the front, but by the beginning of 1949 the fight hadn't reached Germany proper yet. Both sides respected Hungarian neutrality because attacking it would have been a waste of resources that would had only widened the frontline. On the South, Anglo-Americans defeated the last Axis African forces in late '48 and initiated the invasion of Italy, while Soviet forces attempted to enter Germany through Austria without success. The fall of Sicily led to the Italian government to seek an armistice with the Allies prompting Germany to occupy the northern half of the country. Anglo-American forces teamed up with the remnants of the Regio Esercito and captured Central Italy, and the Soviet Balkan forces stormed the Po Valley fom the East.
On the second half of 1949, Soviet fores managed to capture Berlin, push the Wehrmacht west of the Elbe and invade Bohemia. The death of Hitler during the Battle of Berlin led to disarray on the German military, sieged from all sides. Anglo-American forces landed on Normandy in August '49 and forced a German general retreat from France, leaving most of the country to the PCF-dominated Resistance. On December 10th 1949, the last German generals surrendered and WW2 was considered to be ended, but many issues remained unresolved and the Western Allies were increasingly uncomfortable with their former ally. No formal plans had been devised, but Americans expected Germany to be jointly occupied by the three powers. However, the Red Army had reached the Rhine, and Stalin insisted on managing the occupation by themselves.
The first tensions rose as a result of the situation in France. Western Allies had supported the Free French movement led by Charles de Gaulle from London, and after the North African Campaign from Algiers, but most of metropolitan France was dominated by Resistance forces. When Charles de Gaulle announced his intention to move to Paris to head a provisional government to design a new constitution for the republic, the PCF threatened to initiate a general strike if they were not included. The Soviet government supported the French communists' position, and de Gaulle and the Western Allies accepted to prevent a civil war. The provisional government included de Gaulle's newly created National Republican Party, the PCF and the SFIO, but disagreements over the nature of the constitution ensued, with de Gaulle favoring a presidential form of government. After the general election of 1950 gave the PCF 43% of the vote and the SFIO 19%, de Gaulle resigned and those parties formed a coalition government led by the PCF that inflamed the fears of the Western Allies. From the south of France and supported by the new government, Spanish republican exiles are linking to the communist maquis that continue fighting the dictatorship of Franco and the risk of reigniting the civil war is making Anglo-Americans reconsider their stance against Spain.
To avoid that situation in Italy, Americans unilateraly restored the Kingdom of Italy and invited Umberto II to Rome, planing to use the remnants of the old regime to curb the rising communists. The British collaborated and merged thir occupation zone to the Kingdom and began collaborating with ex-fascists and mafiosi to persecute red partisans. The Soviets refused to merge their zone into a monarchical capitalist Italy, insisting on creating a republican neutral Italy that would be thoroughly de-fascistised confident on the strength of the Italian communists to drift the country to the Soviet orbit. Deprived of that chance, Soviet occupation authorities began transferring administrative responsibility to Italian communist leaders in mid-1950, and the Italian Democratic Republic began to function as a state on 7 January 1951 as a rival enttity to the Kingdom of Italy to its south. Similar events happened in Greece, where a Western-backed restored Kingdom controlled the south and the islands while a Soviet-propped Socialist Republic dominated the north.
In the Balkans, the Soviet forces restored Yugoslavia, Albania and Czechoslovakia and installed loyal ommunist governments, while Bulgaria was forced to relinquish territories gained during the war. Hungary remained an oddity, surrounded by Soviet-occupied socialist countries, and was forced to cede Transcarpathia to the Ukranian SSR and territories conquered from Yugoslavia through the threat of economic blockade, but was allowed to retain North Transylvania and Southern Slovakia and was awarded Sopron from Germany, having become a puppet of the Soviet Union in all but name and being a matter of time that Hungarian communists accede to power. In Anatolia, negotiations to create a neutral Turkish republic have stalled as the Soviets unilaterally annexed the straits zone to the Russian SSR and land claimed by the Georgian and Armenian SSRs in the east.
In Germany, Soviet occupational forces have unleashed a brutal campaign to de-nazify the population and implant Soviet communism. The Reich has been abolished and substituted by a Räterepublik, with forced collectivization of all land and industry. Asutria has been separated into its own Räterepublik and its boder revised in favor of Hungary and Yugoslavia. Germany has lost every bit of land gained during the war and more, ceding East prussia and Upper Silesia. Soviet military occupies officially only the Rhineland to extract reparations and manage the nationalization, but in fact the whole country is under their boot. Native communists are being put in power positions while rightist sympathisers are persecuted and reeducated and ex-nazis ad militarymen are judged and executed. As Soviets discover and expose the extent of the Nazi extermination program carried over nearly 10 years, the world turns a blind eye to the German situation. Not even the West dares to support anticommunist guerrillas in the Alps.